SharePoint Comparison - Shared vs. Dedicated

Microsoft SharePoint is a best in class solution. Some might even propose it is in a class all its own. In either case, SharePoint is a robust and sophisticated business collaboration tool. Due to our SharePoint expertise and continuous investment in the development of SharePoint based solutions, Apps4Rent has been able to provide a complete range of SharePoint architectures which most providers are unable to provide.

We may be the only company that provides all three versions of SharePoint – Foundation (or WSS), SharePoint Server 2010 Standard and Enterprise – in hosted (i.e. shared), as well as dedicated versions. And now we also provide for each version a “Semi Dedicated” SharePoint environment - listed under the Flex Dedicated SharePoint plans. This quickly raises the question, which flavor of SharePoint hosting is the right fit for your organization?

SharePoint Comparison: Hosted vs. Dedicated

Important: Read These 5 First, Please

Admittedly, every organization is unique and their expectations of benefiting from SharePoint are just as diverse. Before we continue, there are five key points we would like to mention in order to provide you with the proper context for this decision.

1. We have SharePoint experts on staff that are available to discuss your specific needs. Their consultation for such decisions is free of charge. In fact, we welcome such inquiries. Please send an email to sales@apps4rent.com
2. If you start with shared/hosted SharePoint and later decide to upgrade to Flex or dedicated, we are available free of charge to support you with such a migration. In fact, if you wish to move from another SharePoint provider to us, we can help you do so. Again, this is free of charge.
3. Migrating from shared/hosted to Flex or dedicated SharePoint is relatively straight forward. Migration to the higher version of SharePoint works well as well. However, each migration is unique and we will be glad to review your situation and discuss your options.
4. Regardless of the flavor, SharePoint is an enterprise grade product. Microsoft architected, designed, developed and secured it to excel in today’s hyper-competitive business environment. It’s not so much a question of one being better than the other. All our offerings - the hosted, the Flex and the dedicated versions of SharePoint are exceptional products and champions in their own right. Either way you win. The question is: which is the best fit for your current and future business needs.
5. Below there is a summary comparison chart. Scroll down or click here.

Benefits of Dedicated SharePoint Server

The one word that best sums up the difference between SharePoint hosted and SharePoint dedicated is: Added. This differentiators can be prefixed to a number of key comparison points:

• Customization—With a dedicated SharePoint Server you get the complete freedom of deploying custom web parts, templates and your own solutions at the web application level via the central administration of your SharePoint site. For example, many Web Parts from third party providers need changes on the server side.Adding such custom third party Web Parts is supported by hosted SharePoint as long as they don’t require access to the STSADM command/PowerShell or the server to install the Web parts or templates.
• Control—With a dedicated plan you get full administrator access rights to your SharePoint instance as ell as MS SQL instance on the dedicated server/farm. Some of the benefits of this added level of control are ability to register DLLs, modify the web.config file and access to command line where you can run your PowerShell commands or STSADM commands.
• Single sign-on Integration—With our dedicated SharePoint Server plans, you can choose to integrate your local Active Directory Server in order to implement Microsoft single sign-on service. Your local Active Directory Services and the your Active Directory server located in our data center will be in sync.
• Security—Please note: Whether hosted or dedicated, Microsoft has built SharePoint to be bullet-proof, period. That being said, there are instances where a company might feel compelled to take added precautions and opt for dedicated. Perhaps this requirement is driven by certain regulatory or compliance requirements.All our dedicated SharePoint Server customers get SQL installed only for their use. The instance of SQL is not shared as it is in a hosted SharePoint environment. Hosted SharePoint is secure but dedicated offers an added layer of comfort.

Benefits of Hosted or Shared SharePoint

We offer hosted SharePoint in a true multi-tenant environment with all the features of respective SharePoint at a fraction of the cost when compared with dedicated or similar product as offered with other competitors. In addition to the price point, the other key benefits of Hosted SharePoint are clustered environment with100% redundancy, control panel for easy account administration and full-managed environment at no extra cost.

Benefits of Flex Dedicated SharePoint

Over the years, we have seen that many customers want to install their custom Web Parts but do not really want to manage the database aspect of SharePoint - for some the cost of MS SQL instance was uncalled for. We heard such requirements from different groups of SharePoint users and therefore developed the Flex Dedicated product line.

With Flex plans you get benefits similar to a Dedicated SharePoint server but without really managing the database server or having access to it. The Flex plans give you full administrator access to your very own SharePoint Front End server and the Central Admin. The database server is on a shared server and hence is fully managed and controlled by us.

As you have full access to the SharePoint Front End server along with access to Central Administration you will still have the ability to install your custom solutions and Web Parts without any problems. This would bring down your cost drastically for a SharePoint environment with functionality similar to that of Dedicated SharePoint environment. Features like Active Directory Integration and can be used.

* Hosted SharePoint sandboxed solutions can be implemented as a Site Collection administrator only. If the Sandboxed solution needs any server-side changes then the Dedicated SharePoint Server is the best option.

** This dedicated Sharepoint maximum is set by Microsoft.

If you have any questions, please contact our sales/support which are available 24 / 7 and we will be glad to help you choose the right plan for you.